## Accountability in scientific publications

Transparency and reliability are two important requirements that a scientific publication must meet. What it contains is not necessarily true, but it must be verifiable and well-founded. The reader is expected to adopt a critical attitude.

References
A key feature of scientific texts is that they frequently refer to other sources. References make clear which work is original and which is based on the work of others.

If you use someone else’s work in your paper, you must, even as a student, indicate where the information you present comes from so that the reader can check for themselves whether what you say is correct.

There are several ways to cite sources in a text:

- In parentheses: author + year + optional page number(s)
  Research in various European countries shows that social inequality in educational careers is persistent (Breen 2009).

- With a superscript number referring to a footnote or endnote
  Research in various European countries shows that social inequality in educational careers is persistent¹.

- In parentheses: a number referring to the reference list
  Research in various European countries shows that social inequality in educational careers is persistent (1).

Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page; endnotes are placed at the end of a chapter or article. Notes may contain only the author + year + page number, or the full reference.

By using the references in the text, you can look up in the reference list (also called the bibliography or works cited) all the details about the sources used. This allows you to consult the source yourself and check whether the information is correct.